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The preamble looks scary (to say the least) but I urge people to persevere. Thanks to some fairly generous clueing it is very attackable and is, in fact, an absolute belter.

Agreed, Harry, but wouldn't it have been better next week?

I haven't checked it, but I presume it's right?

It is right. The first one was xxx0

That was difficult, but utterly amazing in its construction. I couldn't reconcile the answer at 29a with its definition using Chambers, but onelook verifies it.

29a is in Chambers with that definition, under the entry with the accent

Only loose end for me is the wordplay for 16, I assume the unchecked letter is D.

Hi smellyharry, yes d is the unchecked letter. Ero(d)ed reversed with the bracketed d replaced by v(elours); &lit clue.

Thanks, I hate &lit clues, they never work properly.

Are all original entries real words?

The original entries are not real words which is what made this a tricky one.
I felt pretty smug when I worked out before I started solving that there is only one position for the squares that involves 18 clues.
Did not help much though. This on took me most of the day.